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She keeps her eyes focused ahead as if she can’t see me at all.

“You promised you’d find my father,” I say. “I already did what you asked me to do. You can’t just back out because things didn’t go the way you planned.”

“Fine,” she says, pushing my hand off her. “Leave me alone, and I’ll find him.”

My head is pounding so loud I almost can’t hear myself speak. “No, that wasn’t our deal.”

“It is now.”

How come she always gets to call the shots? Don’t I get a say? “No, I’m not agreeing to that.”

She shakes her head, tears ready to fall again. “I’ll let you know when I find him.”

Margo never took no for an answer, so why should I?

She steps forward.

I follow.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

MARGO

I argued with Mama all morning, so I don't have the energy to fight with Daniel too. Annie refused to talk to me and left for school before I got up. Mama insists that everything is getting out of hand, and she's given me an ultimatum: if I don't tell Annie soon, she will.

I hold my head up high and walk into my first period class with Daniel trailing right behind me, trying to ignore the fact that I’m about to sit right beside him.

I pull my chair out and sit, eyes forward.

Daniel sits next to me and leans over so close his breath grazes my ear as he whispers, “Did you really think it would be that easy to get rid of me?”

Goosebumps flood my arms. My mind wanders back to the night he fell asleep on my shoulder—to when he grabbed my hand in his hair.

I liked it.

But it isn’t right. I shake away the thought and choose not to reply. I take out my notebook and science binder. He might be my lab partner, but I don’t have to talk to him aboutanything other than science. Once this hour is up, I can move on to my next class. It’ll be easier because he doesn’t sit next to me in it.

Thankfully, Mrs. Wilkson takes up the entire class with a presentation on magnetic fields. She rushes to finish the last slide before the bell cuts her off. “Please finish reading chapter twelve tonight. There will be a quiz on it tomorrow,” she says as students leave.

Daniel is usually one of the first to leave, but he stays seated, eyes focused on me. I hike my backpack over my shoulder, pretending not to notice, and stand. As soon as I walk away, he pushes his chair out and starts walking behind me, again.

I don’t bother stopping at my locker this time. I head straight to my next class, walking down the rows of desks to my usual spot. The seats around me are already filled, but Daniel walks past me, stopping at the desk right behind mine.

“This is my spot today,” Daniel says.

My jaw drops, and I spin around.

Jared is already scrambling to get up.

“You don’t have to move,” I say.

Jared takes one look at Daniel and his tall, rough appearance and cringes. “I don’t mind.” He scrambles away to find another desk.

Daniel sits down. He smirks, crossing his arms proudly.

I glare back. “Was that necessary?”

Daniel shrugs.